Garbage disposal apparatus



J. P. L ANFEAR GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS July 22, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 26, 1954 .QB. mn N A [L 1% w vm July 22, 1958 J. P. LANFEAR I GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fil'd Nov. 26, 1954 Barron IN V EN TOR. Q 851 PZA NF'EA e. BY

ATTUR/VEKY.

'wardly toward same;

United States Patent GARBAGE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Joseph P. Lanfear, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assignor of fifty percent to Edward F. Leary, Washington, D. C., and fifty percent to Drainall Corporation, New York, N. Y.

Application November 26, 1954, Serial No.'47l,420

4 Claims. (Cl. 241-257) This invention relates to grinding devices and is more particularly adapted among other possible uses to the grinding of kitchen wastes, such as garbage and the like to a condition whereby same may be disposed of by flushing same down the sink drain.

While various types of devices for this purpose have been devised and put into extensive use, all of same have certain undesirable limitations, such for example as their inability satisfactorily or rapidly to grind bones and the like material or to do so quicklywithout excessive noise and vibration. Usually such devices do not satisfactorily dispose of materials such as cornsilk andhusks and also may even at times become damaged, jammed or broken when metal objects such as bottle caps and can tops are put into the machine. Furthermore, machines which have heretofore been developed for this purpose have required active parts which involved an excessive amount of accurate and costly machine work. v

The present invention provides a greatly improved machine for the purpose, which is highly dependable and at the same time comparatively simple and inexpensive to construct, and which overcomes the above-noted diifi like positioned in opposed closely spaced shearing rela tion to the stator teeth. Theground material is discharged centrifugally' from between the two circular series of teeth. T 0 provide the rotor teeth, an ordinary saw may be used, for example an inexpensive hacksaw or band saw blade or the like wrapped aroundand afiixed to the periphery of the rotor. Surprisingly effective results are obtained by using saw blades for the purpose inthis manner. For example, large knuckle-bone joints maybe finely ground and disposed of within a small frac tion "of a minutewith notroubl'esome noiseor vibration.-

, .Various further andmore specific objects, features and advantages of the invention will appearfrom the description given below,taken in connection with the accompanying, drawings illustrating by. way of'example a presently preferred form of the invention.

H In the drawings? J i g Figure 1 is a vertical'sectional view of apreferred embodiment of the invention; "Figure 2 is a horizontal sectionalview taken substantially alongline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 2A'is a view showing a small portion of "the stator tooth construction as viewed when looking up- Figure- 3 is a vertical sectional view partly broken away and somewhat enlarged, showingjthe cutter or grinding elements in further detail;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of the rotor of the machine of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 55 of Figure 2, showing a portion of the rotor; and

Figures 6 and 7, respectively, are sectional views similar to that of Figure 5 but showing alternative embodiments.

Referring now to Fig. 1 in further detail, a housing or chamber is indicated at 10 having a top inlet portion'll through which the material to be disposed of is introduced with water into the chamber. For example, it will be understood that the inlet 11 may be connected in various known ways to the underside of the drain opening in, the bottom of a sink or the like and such opening may, be provided with various known forms of guard means or safety motor shutoff facilities (forming no part of the present invention).

The lower peripheral edges of the chamber 10 may be sealed as by a gasket 12 and suitably clamped in any desired removable way with respect to the upper edges of a motor housing or frame member 13 containing a motor of suitable known type, for. example a one-third horsepower motor having a vertical shaft 14 upon which is supported and driven a rotor member 15, here shown as a disc-like element, having wrapped about its periphery; a thin spring-steel saw blade 16 secured in place, as by screws 17 (Fig. 3). That is, such saw blade (which may be an ordinary hacksaw or band saw blade) is bent around and mounted with its teeth16a extending upwardly, and ina position radially outwardly of and in opposed closely spacedrelation to teeth as at 18 which depend'from a serrated cylindrical area 19 formed on the inside surface of a stator insert 20, which is preferably force-fittedwithin a recess 21 formed on the lower inner wall surface of the chamber 10. J I

Preferably as shown the height of the upstanding teeth 16a is sufiicient so that they subtend at least substantially the entire height of teeth 18 with close clearancewith respect thereto, leaving no points for escape of material outwardly from the rotor without first subjectingv such material to afine uniform shearing or clipping action between teeth 16a and 18.

The rotor is turned rapidly by the motor in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, that is, in a direction opposed to the direction toward which the stator serrations 19 are directed and also opposed to the direction in which the depending teeth 18- aredirccted. As shown in Fig. 3 the saw blade is preferably positioned so that its teeth are directed in opposed relationto, the direction of the stator teeth and in the same direction as thedirection of rotation of the rotor.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the upper surface of the rotor is provided with at least one and preferably two or more vane means as at 23 fixed in positionto be carried around on the rotor and preferably somewhat offset with respect to, but parallel to, a diameter of the rotor. However, the positions of these vanes may be varied within considerable limits. Such vanes, if desired, may comprise bar-like members rigidly affixed to the rotor, although preferably they are mounted to be yieldingly depressible, as hereinafter described in connection with Fig. 5 or the alternative constructions of Figs. 6 and 7. Thepurpose of these vanes is to insure that material which is put into the chamber 10 and which rests on the rotor, will be caused to rotate about with the rotor while by the action of centrifugal force such material is thrown against the stator serrations 19 and thereby ground or cut into chips or relatively coarse pieces. It will be noted that the teeth or serrations 19 are preferably positioned (as shown in Fig. 3) to incline downwardly and forwardly in the direction of' movement of the rotor so that the chips or coarse pieces, as formed thereby, will fall down partly by the action of'gravity to teeth 16a; 18 and'partly by Patented July 22,1958

3 the action of remaining revolving masses of material not yet ground. The downwardly directed. stator teeth 18 are pos1t1oned with a clearance with respect to the rotor sufliclent so that the chips or coarse particles will then be thrown bycentrifugal force outwardly against the. saw blade teeth 16:: and thereby throughthe cooperation of the. opposed teeth. 16a, 18 be further; ground. into fine PaI'IItZIB S QI' short lengths of fiber in case the material is fibrous, and all sufliciently fineto be flushed away into a chamber 25. formed in the top of the lower frame or motor houslng 13 and thence to a drain pipe 26 to a sewer connection.

In case the material is of a fibrous nature, such as pieces of cloth, cornsilk or husks, etc., it will be, wholly cut into short lengths by reason of the cooperation of the opposed stator and rotor teeth, the lengths of the particles or degree of fineness thereof being largely determmed by the dimension of the clearance space between these. opposed teeth.

'As shown in Fig. 5, each of the vanes- 23, if desired, may comprise a. rod-like portion 27 integrally formed with' an upwardly extending portion 28 of sector-shaped cross-section and having a leading edge 29 which normally extends upwardly in a direction inclined somewhat forwardly in the direction of rotation of the rotor. Thus when the waste material or pieces thereof fall against the surface of the rotor, the surface 29 will cause same to rotate around at the same speed with the rotor, andthe inclination. of the surface 29 is such as to tend to deflect any pieces which strike same downwardly instead of upwardly and out of the chamber 10.

' As further shown in Fig. 5, the upper surface of the rotor may be covered by a thin disc or plate-like member30 afiixed as by screws 31 and having slots as at 32 for receiving the portions 28 of the vanes. The body of the rotor may be integrally formed with radial cavity portions as at 33 for receiving the lower portions of such vanes. In order yieldably to support the vane portion 28 in its upwardly protruding position as shown, a leaf spring may beprovided at 34 afiixed as by screws 35 in position beneath the plate 30. This leaf spring has a lip portion 36 adapted to engage beneath a trailing edge portion 37 of the vane element. Thus if some object or part of the waste material should, while. resting against the forward surface 29 of the vane, become substantially jammed against the serrations or teeth on.the stator, then the vane will yieldingly turn about its own axis so that its portion 28' will pass down into the slot 32 in the plate 30 to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5, theleaf springbeing then also depressed to the position shown by dotted lines. But as soon as the jamming condition is relieved, .thenthe vane will be free to rotate backup to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 5.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the action is similar to that of Fig. 5, except that here the upwardly protruding portion 28a of the vane is of hook-shaped cross-section and this portion is secured in place by hingelike means as indicated at 40; mounted beneath the plate 300:. A leaf spring 34a is here provided for the same purpose as, and acting in a manner similar to, the leaf spring 34 (Fig. to allow the vane portion 28a to be depressed as shown by dotted lines.

With the embodiment shown in Fig- 7, the vane element is of the same cross-section as the one shown in Fig. 5, but the spring means 34b here shown is shaped to embrace the lower portion of the vane element and has one. edge as at 41 affixed beneath the plate 30 to the rotor 15. and its other edge rounded as at 42 and adapted" to bear against the edge 37a of the vane element, to yieldably hold same in its upwardly protruding position as shown by full lines, but allowing same to be depressed when an obstruction occurs so that the springmeans then assumes the position shown in dotted lines.

Sometimes chunks or masses of the waste material may be such as to temporarily rotate around with the rotor while bearing against the portions of the inside surface .4 of the chamber 10' above the serrations 19 and without adequate engagement with the serrations to insure prompt and effective grinding. To prevent this, a so-called breaker element 50 may be provided partially or just above the serrations 19 and protruding into the path of the rotating waste material, so as to break up any chunks or coherent masses whereby they will be free to fall down and be urged by centrifugal force against the serrations 19 and be properly ground.

In a typical case such as above referred to, the rotor was driven by a one-third horsepower motor at a speed of about 1750 R. P. M. The saw blade was provided with about 108 teeth and was of a diameter in the neighborhood of 5 /2 inches. With such construction, the usual run of kitchen garbage in amounts sufficient substantially to fill the chamber 10 may be ground within a few seconds, and large knuckle bone joints were ground in a matter of about 15 seconds. Also, no difficulties were encountered due to the presence of small pieces of sheet metal such. as cans and bottle caps or pieces of glass; The speed of rotation, as well as the power of the motor, may, of course, be varied within considerable limits, the above figures. being given merely by way of example for a construction which has operated with surprising effectiveness as. compared with any other like machine heretofore available, so far as is known.

While, as above mentioned, the saw blades such as at 16 may be. formed by wrapping a normally straight hacksaw or band saw blade or the like about the rotor and then afiixing same by screws, yet it will be understood that if desired such blades may be made normally of cylindrical orv annular form without a joint. The stator grinding element 20, if desired, may also be made initially as a vflat strip with teeth 18 and serrations 19 thereon and then curved into cylindrical shape and forced into position and suitably retained by friction or screws in the lower end. of thepchamber 10. Or alternatively the element 20 may be initially formed as a thin-walled cylinder with the serrations and teeth machined on the interior and lower edge'surfaces thereof.

The saw blade teeth may be either straight with respect to the'body of the blade or alternate teeth may be slightlyv bent or offset, if desired, as customary with saws generally. The-preferred relative sizes of the teeth and of. the clearance spaces between the rotor and stator teeth may be varied to some degree, although thepreferred relative'dimensions are substantially as shownin the various figuresof the drawings.

Whatis claimed. and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a grinder,. a motor driven rotor comprising a generally disc-like member mounted to rotate about a generally vertical, axis and provided on its periphery with a circular series of vsaw teeth, the upper surface of said rotor being formed with. vane means, a stator having a circular series of tooth-like elements in opposed closelyspacedrelationito the saw teeth for cooperating therewith to grind material resting on the rotor and which is urged to rotate around therewith by said vane while being thrownacentrifugally against the tooth-like elements, and means-for yieldably. holding said vane means in normal exposed position protruding above the rotor surface but permitting same to be depressed to inactive position when material jams between the vane means and the stator.

2 In a grinder construction, a combination comprising: a rotor, means for driving said rotor to rotate same aboutan upstanding axis, a saw blade of a circular configuration secured on said rotor concentrically with said axis,.said saw. blade having upstanding teeth, a stator of generally circular shape internally and concentric with saidaxis, said stator having a series of depending teeth positionedsin closely spaced relation to said saw teeth and inwardly thereof, the stator teeth subtending substantially the-entireheight of said saw teeth, the region of such teeth thereby-being closed against the escape of material outwardly of the rotor without first being subjected to shearing between said stator and saw teeth, the stator also being formed around on its interior surface with a series of serrations extending upwardly to'a substantial distance from the stator teeth, said serrations being formed with acute angle cutting edges.

3. In a grinder construction, a combination comprising: a rotor, means for driving said rotor to rotate same about an upstanding axis, a circular series of upstanding rotor teeth located around at the circumference on said rotor and concentrically with said axis, a stator of generally cylindrical shape internally and concentric with said axis, said stator having an uninterrupted circular series of depending teeth positioned in closely spaced relation to said rotor teeth and inwardly thereof, the stator teeth subtending substantially the entire height of said rotor teeth, the region of such teeth thereby being closed against the escape of material outwardly of the rotor without first being subjected to shearing by passing through both said stator and rotor teeth, and vane means on the surface area of the rotor for causing material supported thereon 'to be rotated and thrust by centrifugal force against the cylindrical interior wall of the stator, said wall also being formed with a circular series of tooth portions forming upward continuations of said depending stator teeth and having cutting edge directed toward the material thrust against same for preliminarily cutting such material.

4. In a grinder construction, a combination comprising: a generally flat disc-like rotor, means for driving said rotor to rotate same about an upstanding axis, a saw blade of a circular configuration secured about the periphery of said rotor concentrically with said axis, said saw blade having upstanding teeth, a stator of generally cylindrical shape internally and concentric with said axis, said stator having an uninterrupted circular series of depending teeth positioned in closedly spaced overlapping relation to said saw teeth and inwardly thereof, the interior of said stator also being formed around on its interior surface with a series of sharp serrations extending upwardly at a substantial distance from the stator teeth, and vane means on the surface of the rotor for causing material thereon to be rotated and thrust by centrifugal force against said serrations for preliminary cutting.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 315,143 Hudson et al. Apr. 7, 1885 1,762,592 Schwarz June 10, 1930 2,484,509 Hopkins Oct. 11, 1949 2,565,322 Powers Aug. 21, 1951 2,579,400 Schindler Dec. 18, 1951 2,604,633 McPherson July 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 84,595 Austria Nov. 15, 1920 89,887 Sweden Aug. 3, 1937 469,168 Italy Feb. 19, 1952 

